Will tries to leave to check on Alice and Anastasia – but
is dragged back to Elizabeth when he gets too far from the bottle. He checks
his pocket and he has 3 gems; wishes to give to Elizabeth and then recite the
whole genie spiel. He’s a genie and Elizabeth is his master.

Alice and Cyrus are all being lovey dovey until Anastasia interrupts them. She
and Alice snarl for a bit but Anastasia is not impressed by Alice completely
forgetting that Will is in trouble. Alice doesn’t want to work with Anastasia but
Cyrus can see Anastasia’s rather obvious love for Will – and, besides, her
magic will be more than a little helpful

Over to the palace, Jafar has claimed the throne of Wonderland and mocks his caged
father to look at his throne. His father, who is rather good at snark, hits
back that a throne is made by someone worthy sitting on it – Jafar is just sat
on a large chair. Jafar hits back at how his dad could be worthy since he tried
to kill his own son, but daddy is a master at this and returns the rejoined “if
only I had succeeded, the world would be a better place.”

Game, set, match to daddy there, methinks.

Removing his dad from the throne room since he can’t
match his cutting wit, Jafar turns to the Caterpillar, his new fawning minion
who he has given the task of finding the bottle. A task he and his many men
have failed. He offers another option – a powerful, unstoppable magical
beastie: the Jabberwocky! Get me my vorpal sword!

The Caterpillar doesn’t really want him to summon it. But
Jafar asks his beheaded
Tweedle (Tweedledee) to guide him to it – Tweedledee is also not enthused
with the idea of releasing and unstoppable monster. But Jafar gives him a new
body and also thinks threatening to unleash the Jabberwocky will make all of
Wonderland rally against Alice.

He goes to the Jaberwocky’s prison and kills the guard
who won’t be intimidated into standing aside – he’s not fighting to save the
beast, but to save Jafar from it. There’s some nice foreshadowing here. He
breaks into the prison full of bodies and hears a woman’s voice – the Jabberwocky,
who enters into his head and threatens to open the door there, where people
keep all their worst fears hidden and sealed.

Alice and Anastasia are still sniping at each other
(mainly Alice) and Alice avoids telling Cyrus about the whole mental
institution thing and how Anastasia is totally hashing their reunion. But when
she disappears they worry about what she could be up to

She’s actually been kidnapped by a group of very
disgruntled villagers who did not approve of her brutal, carless reign and are
now ready to show her the violence inherent in the system. They drag her away
and she begs, telling them she knows what it’s like to be poor and desperate –
that doesn’t impress them since if she knew she should have listened to them
begging her for help. And now they can feed her to the creatures that ravage
their village.

Cyrus does a spell to find Anastasia (though Alice thinks
they should leave her), he isn’t a genie but he still knows the magic his
mother taught him. They find her tied to a stake and surrounded by angry
villagers and Alice questions again why they’re trying to save her.

Anastasia protests she’s worth more alive for ransom than
dead, she’s a queen after all. But when the villager asks her who would pay to
save her life, she can’t name anyone. Which is when Cyrus steps up with a
fluffy speech of goodness and human decency. No-one’s impressed. Alice draws
her sword against the crowd…

And we cut to all three of them being tired to a post
waiting for the beasts to eat – Anastasia thanks them for caring though.
Beasties appear – the Moonrats. The monsters focus on light so they quickly
kick over the fires – and throw away Alice’s glowing necklace, giving them
chance to run… though Alice isn’t happy about losing it

In a village, Elizabeth asks Will why he’s even hurrying
back to Alice and Cyrus – he went with them to reunite them, they’re reunited.
Job done, he doesn’t even know they’re looking for him. Time to take some down
time and use one of her wishes – though she’s disappointed when he tells her
can’t make anyone fall in love. Instead she says she’ll wish for something he
wants. Will is duly suspicious of wishing so wishes for something simple –
beers for everyone!

Nadia was bitten last week- that means she’s near death
which means we get some angsty flashbacks about a character who is pretty irrelevant
to the story, oh yay.

We open in “Northern Europe” in 1520 and Nadia’s
centuries long quest to find Katherine. Katherine is by her bedside and barely
even trying to pretend to care. She hasn’t called Klaus (whose blood cures
werewolf bites) because she doesn’t want to expose herself and Klaus doesn’t
care about Katherine anyway – instead she’s called evil Dr. Wes because he
likes to study ucky supernatural fluids. Katherine also swears to be a better
mother, which, tbh isn’t going to be all that difficult, she’s kind of set the
bar awfully low.

Meanwhile, Stefan and Caroline spread the word that
Katherine is possessing Elena (Damon takes It in his stride even when Stefan
tries to rub some salt in the wound of him being manipulated by Katherine.
Again). Caroline, Matt and Tyler are more surprised they didn’t figure it out
(me too since she was awful at keeping the secret – so the answer is probably “shoddy
writing”. That’s kind of my answer for everything that happens on this show).
Jeremy and Bonnie (hey she climbed out of the plotbox!) face the master
manipulation of Katherine actually realising letting Jeremy die would be out of
character

So what’s the master plan to exposing Katherine and
dragging her away from her dying daughter so they can stab her with the
Traveller Banishing Knife (hereby known as the TBK or magic stabby thing depending
on how much this episode drives me to drink) – throw a party.

Of course it is. The solution to everything in Mystical
Falls is a party, parade, ball or other grand social event. Bonnie’s surprise
Birthday party.

Caroline and Bonnie both try to convince Katherine to
come out and play but she dodges them. Suspicious by the sudden clinginess she
calls Damon and offers to come over – and he accepts. Since Damon tried to kill
her not so long ago, she knows there’s no way Damon would risk precious Elena’s
life by allowing her near him – she rumbles the trap (that’s actually pretty
good logic. I’m impressed Vampire Diaries); in turn Stefan and Damon realise
the only reason Katherine would volunteer to leave when she’s been dodging
meetings is if she suspects.

So now everyone knows that everyone knows that Katherine is Elena. Time for a
Nadia flashback to France, 1720 (France? Wow did someone find a map? Wouldn’t “western
Europe” have been sufficient?) Anyway, present day Katherine has dragged sickly
Nadia out to the car and is now on the run. We also have another flashback
dream to Nadia meeting Matt and even that was apparently part of her quest to
find Katherine

Which means, per Damon’s suggestion, they need a witch to do a finder spell.
Calling on Liv, the inexperienced witch. Unfortunately the string of common
sense ends because they decide to leave Tyler to guard Damon (he needs a
guard?) and Damon taunts him until he comes within arm’s reach. Tasty snacky
hybrid! Damon is now free.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Steve is the last RM – he is the Orcus. He is Hungry
Death. He is not just the head of Death, but the very embodiment of it.

And the end of the world is looming closer – a monstrous creature of the void
is looming not just in the underworld but in the real world as well. The
apocalypse is nigh

Unless Steven can stop it. Which means getting himself
together and his life in order and finally working with Lissa and Tim and
acting like the head of the Orcus.

Oh, and trying to make peace with the Death of Water who
is not happy with Steven, not happy at all.

We have an interesting development in Steve’s character –
I’ve complained before that he didn’t seem to do anything in the
second book except mope and drink. I can understand why he did because he
went through a lot – but then so did everyone else, and there’s Lissa and Tim
moving mountains to keep everything together while he… mopes until the big
power and plan lands on him.

And this book? We have some consequences of that. He’s
still woefully ignorant of his abilities and his dodging that has left him with
regrettable gaps in his skills and knowledge – which costs him until he gets
himself together and starts working. More, he has lost the respect of many
people and, because of who he is, that in turn has reduced people’s morale and
faith in him. No-one has a lot of confidence in a boss and world saviour who
spends all day drinking and whining without doing anything. Now Lissa and Tim?
The other Ankous from around the world deeply respect them – but Steve, the
Hungry Death himself, is tolerated because he didn’t get up and get things
done. Winning their respect, rebuilding that confidence and turning himself
around. I appreciate that – a character who has flaws that he then has to pay
for is something I can respect.

Though I do think he recovered from his alcoholism
awfully quickly part of that is down to being Hungry Death himself and the
wonderful intervention of the death of the sea which was pretty major.

So it’s nice that there was some attempt to address that Steve was a pretty
useless article the last book. And that was coupled with some excellent
conflicted morality over what he’s done and what he’s become – as well as Lissa
and Tim not being patient saints around him. I have a little frustration that I
kind of want a book in the middle. Steven is useless last book. He gets called
out and sorts his stuff out in the book after. Then in the last book Steven
would be running around all epic and awesome and totally kick arse even if he
is against an overwhelming force. And we never really got that last bit.

This isn’t just my shallow love for all things epic – and
don’t get me wrong, Steve does pull a level of epic here – but the fact that Steve
is the complete avatar of Earthly death just didn’t seem to mean anything.
Especially since there’s a scene where Steven truly seems to master himself and
what he has become – and that sets you up. I read that and think “oh yeah, now
it begins….” And it didn’t. Sure he fought and he was powerful but it was…
lacking the oomph. It’s like if Zeus came down from Olympus and carved a hole
through the enemy with a big sword – it doesn’t matter how epic a fighter he
is, part of me is always going to ask “where’s the damn thunderbolts?” There
were no thunderbolts. And the scythe of death was just… a scythe. He was a
great hero – but was he Hungry Death?

Aaron is still lost in in March of 2014. Priscilla joins him in the kitchen and asks him if he is alright. He says that something is off and that he is forgetting something. The news talks about power outage payloads and when he looks at the television, he sees Dr. Calvin Horn. We get a flash to the proper timeline with Horn and Aaron says that he has seen that guy before. When Priscilla asks who, Aaron points out Horn but admits that he doesn't know where he knows him from. Priscilla encourages Aaron to eat breakfast.

We next see Priscilla and Aaron on the street. Aaron pauses to pull a sandwich out of the garbage and Priscilla tells him to put it back. When Aaron comments that food is hard to find, Priscilla tells him that food is everywhere and that he is not to eat garbage. They continue walking and enter a building together. Once inside, people great him as boss and Aaron is clearly confused. His employees call him into deal with an algorithm that they are having problems with. Aaron gets a flash to the present timeline with himself working on the same algorithm; it's the same one he worked on for the nanos. Aaron says that he doesn't feel like working on it now and turns up the volume on the television. Rachel is giving a speech on nano technology and Aaron says that he knows her. Aaron starts to get flashes of Priscilla and then his knees go weak. When Priscilla asks him what is wrong, Aaron replies that she is not sure that this is real.

Alone, Priscilla questions Aaron about the fact that he lives in a world with no electricity. Priscilla asks for the last thing he remembers and Aaron says that Rachel, Priscilla and Horn were there and that he gets the crap beat out of him constantly. Priscilla soothes him with a kiss and asks if he felt that and Aaron says yes. Aaron admits that if this were a dream, the kiss wouldn't feel real. Priscilla says that she is going to take him home to rest and call the doctor.

Back at home, Aaron flips through the channels on television. He heads to the fridge and grabs a beer savoring the taste. Later in bed, Aaron closes his eyes and says," let this be real please." The next morning, Aaron is up, dressed, and even a touch eager. He tells Priscilla that he is feeling much better and that the blackout was the dream. He adds that they have a real house, cold beer, internet porn and that this is the real world.

Aaron shows up at work and seems in an excellent mood and Mike confirms that they are ready for their big presentation. Aaron heads back to the chalkboard and the code on the whiteboard. Aaron quickly picks out the memory leak but pauses briefly and then starts to write on the board. Charlie appears and uses a cross bow to put an arrow in the throat of Aaron's workers. Charlie orders Aaron to come with her but he balks, so she grabs him forcefully. They run down the stairs together and Aaron refers to her as the belly shirt girl. Charlie tells Aaron that he has to remember everything. Charlie asks Aaron what her name is and after a few flashbacks from the alternate timeline, Aaron calls her Charlie. Aaron realises that he is dreaming and Charlie tells him that they have to move because some mysterious "they" are coming for him. Outside, Charlie tells Aaron that the nanites are coming for him because they are dying and need him to fix the code. Charlie reveals that it's like the Matrix - a virtual reality program. Charlie is actually a figment of Aaron's imagination - the part of him trying to fight off the nanite invasion. Charlie tells Aaron that he needs to find Rachel and make her help him. Charlie stands to guide Aaron away but is shot by Horn. When Aaron stands, Horn is surrounded by armed men and he calls out, "I'm going to need you to fix that code Pittman." Aaron takes off running and hops into a cab to escape. He asks to be taken to Chicago.

Ultra raided by an angry Paranormal who causes a bit of
chaos before being tased and dropped. It’s Julian.
Well that was productive.

And John is still staying at Steven’s and being a
surprisingly good cook; in between praising his food and mocking the idea of a
man cooking for another man (y’know jokes like that are always going to be
shaky, but are only worse on a show that hasn’t decided to acknowledge GBLT
people exist) Steven wants John and Cara back together, working together etc
etc.

Which leads to Charlotte
talking to both John and Cara telepathically with a whole lot of wanting John
back. Cara comes up with the bizarre non-sequiter “you can’t bring someone in
unless they’re ready.” Um… I don’t think John is “not ready” to join a group he
appeared to have founded

It doesn’t have to make sense because it’s a clumsy lead
in for a flashback to 3 years ago when Cara and John first met on the subway
and he stopped her stealing his watch and confronted her about her powers and
telling her about The Tomorrow People.

Meanwhile, Steven visits Astrid (she has been allowed out
of the plot box!) who doesn’t really believe all his assurances that all is
safe and quickly gets rid of him.

And at Ultra it seems Julian has effectively turned
himself in so he can offer a deal to Jedikiah to get Cara. There all the plot
lines have been set up onwards to some plot please.

Cara and Russell are planning a supply run (and telling
Charlotte she can’t come) when Steven passes on the news about Julian being
captured – but not the deal. Back to Julian who sells why he will do a much
better job of finding the Tomorrow People (and he calls Cara a “shifty little
minx” which I can’t even begin to grasp – did we teleport back to the 1920s?),
he’s sure he can do it because he taught Cara everything she knows, apparently.
Jedikiah responds by having a chip injected up his nose. It’s a bomb – he brings
in Cara et al on time or it blows up.

One of these days people are going to realise that making
deals with Jedikiah is a bad idea and that the bad guy is, y’know, a bad guy.

Astrid calls Steven on Skype – and gets a shirtless John
instead, but she has issues to talk out and he’s willing to listen – and come
over so she can talk to him since she’s having problems going out after her
experiences. (John teleports over for her convenience and a reminder that she’s
silly because the bad guys can get her anywhere! No, not really but that’s only
because Tomorrow People doesn’t think
these things through) She talks through her fears – and fears of being around
Steven – and John plans to be reassuring, comforting and help…

…and lead into another flashback with a nervous Cara –
who said no to John’s kind offer of joining him since she’d already been burned
with Julian

In the present Steven learns that Julian is being used
for nefarious purposes. Julian finds Cara, Russell and the resupply team and
his Ultra agents restrain everyone but Cara. Steven teleports in to free
Russell and the others, while Cara is ambushed, beaten and throttled by Julian
until Steven throws a can at his head. Cara escapes along with Russell and co
and Steven pretends to have been called in for backup as an Ultra agent
(thankfully, Ultra keeps no log of such requests because REASONS, but then, it’s
not like Steven’s cover-agent status isn’t known to everyone).

John helps Astrid confront her fears by jumping out of a
moving train and teleporting them both. This may be why John did not take up a
career as a therapist. Of course this leads to “john talk to Cara” because that’s
the not-subtle theme of the episode

Speaking of, Cara and Russell come home to find that
Charlotte is missing, looking for John. She’s decided to go wandering saying
John’s name aloud rather than telepathically contacting him for REASONS! And
her presence is detected by Julian who decides to check it out – after tranqing
Steven to be extra sure the double agent doesn’t screw things up. Falling
unconscious, Steven sends a warning to John just as Charlotte is cuffed and
captured.

The Hollows is a series by one of our favourite authors, Kim Harrison. Essentially, humankind becomes stricken by an infection borne in tomatoes and the world almost shuts down. The world is saved by the supernaturals (Inderlanders) who not only announce their presence but take on the jobs once filled by humanity to keep the world running. Our protagonist is Rachel Morgan and she is a witch. She lives with her friends Jenks, a pixie and Ivy, a living vampire. Together our merry threesome spends most of the series involved in one supernatural disaster after another. If you haven’t read The Hollows, we heartily recommend it.

Throughout the series, Rachel for better or worse has had several love interests. In recent books however, it’s clear that Harrison is setting Rachel up to have her HEA with Trent - an extremely shrewd elf. There are longtime fans of this series who are great fans of this pairing and, to some degree, I agree that Rachel and Trent make an awesome couple. I even admit that at one time I may have tweeted Kim Harrison bemoaning the fact that she didn’t let Rachel and Trent do it at the end of book 11. Talk about a pure tease. Rachel and Trent have known each other since they were children and for much of that time it would be fair to describe their interactions as acrimonious. It is only after Rachel works as Trent’s security on a few missions that an attraction begins to develop and they learn to see each other through a different lens. However, as the relationship progressed, even as my pure fanpoodle heart was racing, there were several problems that I have been forced to acknowledge.

Trent has done some terrible things… but this doesn’t necessarily preclude a relationship, especially if the characters and relationship are developed and the problems addressed.

Trent is one of the best characters I’ve seen written in a long time, certainly one of the best villains and, in some ways, one of the best redeemed villains. He appears in the first book as the cruel and brutal organised crime boss, a man engaging in horrendous illegal research that has already destroyed most of humanity - he’s a drug dealer, a murderer, a man Rachel simply has to bring to justice.

As the story develops we learn so much more about him - and see so much about his growth.

Was he ruthless and engaging in terribly illegal practices? Of course he was - his entire species

rested on the results of his tests. His people will literally become extinct if he is not successful - how could he not break these laws? And how could he not destroy his enemies with brutal, evil efficiency? This isn’t his money or his power that is under threat - they are threatening the continuation of his species. If someone was literally menacing the last hope humanity has to stave off extinction, what would we do to them?

Was he callous and cold? Yes, but did he have a choice - raised by bodyguards who have extreme trouble showing emotion after his parents were killed? Having dubious friends (at best), the best of which actively engages in a gang war with him? What chance did he have to become other than callously ruthless when he had this solemn duty dumped on him from such a young age? When the only tools he has to achieves these goals break the most vital laws of society, how could he not become an underworld power? There is literally no other way for him to save his people.

As the books progress we learn more and more about his character - not someone breaking the law and controlling people for his own power, but forced into this very dark life by an overwhelming sense of duty. We also learn that his overwhelming loathing of demons, which colours many of his reactions to Rachel’s magic use, has to be overcome in the face of a mutual genocidal war and thousands of years of brutal conflict

We also see him grow as he learns that there are other ways to do things. As he comes to know Rachel - and Jenks - he develops real friendship perhaps for the first time in his life. He learns a way of doing things beyond bribes, threats, charming manipulation and the loyalty of employees, even though he’s tried all on Rachel, none have compelled more than temporary compliance (and no small amount of headaches). As the books progress and he needs them more and more (and is pushed by Quen) he is forced to work with Rachel as an equal, to show her grudging respect and, in doing so, learn a whole new way of living and thinking. In the last book he marvels how many people in Rachel’s life are willing to risk so much for her - how, when her life is on the rocks, she has Ivy and Jenks and David and so many others willing to step up and have her back. Rachel shows him a new way of living and a new way of relating to people and an option beyond the eternal pressures of duty that crush him.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

After a good deal of time away chasing demons and dealing with vampires, Jayné Heller is returning to Witchita. Jayné is going to attend her older brother's wedding and the process hopefully get the answers from her parents that has wanted for a long time. As with all family gathering things go awry quickly but because nothing has ever really been normal in Jayné's world, it's not as simple as a drunken relative passing out in the mashed potatoes. The deeper Jayné digs she risks unearthing an evil which has been haunting her family for generations. There is a price to truth and now Jayné has to decide whether she willing to pay it and in the process save the family which has long rejected her.

From the ending of Graveyard Child, it's not immediately clear if this is the last book in the series. Hanover did leave himself a little bit of room to continue with Jayné and her cohorts and in the process managed to tied up a lot of loose ends in the series. We discover the purpose of the tattoo which Jayné desperately sought to hide from her father, as well as what happened during Jayné's lost two days when she was 16.

The most important revelations had to do with Jayné's family. From the onset we were told that her father was an authoritarian parent with strong religious beliefs. These facts did indeed turn out to be true; however, Hanover took great care to imbue a sense of complexity to not only his character but those of the other members of Jayné's family. This allowed the reader to have a greater understanding of Jayné and to fully appreciate her growth as a protagonist. It's worth mentioning that I still don't find Jayné to be particularly likeable, even if she is no longer naive.

This episode starts with yet another flashback to 1919. in a jazz club filled werewolves, vampires, witches and dirty cops, Elijah, Klaus and the werewolf queen drink a toast to collaboration and prohibition. Elijah and Klaus are excited about the reunification of New Orleans.

In present day, Klaus is in bed with Elijah standing above him. Later, Cami heads to see Elijah hoping that he has found a cure for her uncle. Elijah promises to try but says that he needs her help. When Cami balks, Elijah points out that Klaus is sick and that Hayley, who he refers to as the mother of Klaus's child is missing. Heaven forbid Haley be more than a magical uterus for five minutes. Elijah takes Cami to see Klaus and explains that the dagger is buried inside of him When Cami asks who stabbed him, Elijah admits to being the one and then adds that he is going to remove the dagger. Elijah explains that Cami is there because Klaus speaks of her with a rare degree of respect. Elijah then goes on to add that Klaus will be weak as he recovers and so she asks Cami to watch over him and feed him slowly from her wrist. Cami's blood is mixed with vervain, which means that Klaus will recover more slowly, so Elijah asks Cami to use this time to make Klaus rethink his decision to murder Rebekah. Elijah leans over the bed and says that he will not see him hurt Rebekah and that he intends to find Sabine and end this. Klaus tells Elijah that he will pay for this.

Hayley and Eve have Celeste/Sabine in werewolf territory and Sabine apologizes for tricking them. Eve is not soothed and points out that Celeste almost burned Hayley and Jackson alive in the plantation fire. When Celeste moves against the ropes, Hayley fires a warning shot saying that she knows all about her. Hayley says that she won't allow Celeste to die so that she can leap into another body and adds that if Celeste tries to hex her that Eve will kneecap her. I love this tough Hayley. When Celeste asks what they want, Hayley brings up the curse Celeste cast as Brinn on the werewolves. Hayley asks for Celeste to lift the curse.

At Klaus's bedside, Cami prepares to offer Klaus her wrist for feeding, saying that she never thought she would be doing something like this. Klaus takes a bite and Cami asks him to slow down. Klaus tells Cami that he is too weak for one of her talks right now and so Cami asks how he could hate his sister. Klaus says that Rebekah has done what no one else has managed to do to him for a thousand years - rip his heart out.

We get a flashback to Rebekah entering the jazz club. From a distance, Elijah and Klaus watch Rebekah and Marcel. Klaus comments that Rebekah and Marcel are pretending to be apart but they're actually a pair. Klaus stands and Elijah asks why he must cause trouble. Klaus gets the attention of the crowd and says that he would like to take the time to point out two people who have been sneaking behind his back together. He then makes a toast to Marcel and Rebekah and says that they should find joy in each other. Klaus tells Rebekah that he thwarted her love over the years knowing that her heart would be broken and adds that now she no longer has to run because they have found a home. Klaus kisses Rebekah and tells her to be happy before leaving.

In the present, Klaus tells Cami that he let his guard down and gave into happiness.

In the past, Michael watches Marcel crossing the street.

Klaus tells Cami that Marcel and Rebekah betrayed him by bringing Michael to town and that he had been running from his father for centuries. Cami tells Klaus that he is consumed by revenge he will never receive and adds that Elijah said that Rebekah and Marcel could be anywhere in the world right now. Klaus replies that he is not sure about that.

In the present, Marcel and Rebekah are together and they come to a stop sign. In the past, Rebekah expresses her shock at being able to sit openly with Marcel. Rebekah points out that it's been six months since Genevieve summoned Michael and she surmises that the spell must have failed. Marcel replies that they dodged a bullet and the two kiss. Rebekah excuses herself to give a speech at a temperance meeting. What she does not know, is that Michael was sitting in the bar and heard every word she said. In the present, Rebekah tells Marcel that Klaus will chase them to the ends of the earth. Rebekah adds that no one can hide forever and Marcel says that they need to follow the plan because there is only one way someone can hide from Klaus forever.

At the compound, Klaus tells Cami that Rebekah and Marcel will need a cloaking spell and for that they are going to need a witch.

In the car, Marcel says that Davina is their only shot but Rebekah argues that this is a suicide mission. Marcel believes that if they resurrect Davina and take her out of town, she can then hide them from Klaus. Rebekah points out that they don't know the right witch to kill to bring her back and Marcel suggests that they should kill them all. Rebekah points out that it will be difficult to kill the three witches who brought Klaus to his knees. Marcel reminds Rebekah that unless she wants to spend eternity looking over her shoulder, then she has no other choice. Marcel turns the car around.

Monique is doing a spell in the crypt and when she senses Elijah, she tells him that when order has been restored, his kind will no longer will be allowed in there. Elijah tells Monique that she needs to find Sabine because Sabine may have taken someone very important to him. Monique tells Elijah that Sabine is one of them and is committed to the rise of the witches. Elijah argues back that the only thing Sabine is committed to is the destruction of the Mikaelsons. Elijah goes on to add that like Monique's mother, his mother was also a very powerful witch and that her power now flows through Monique's veins. Elijah suggests that when Sabine has accomplished her goals that she will jump into another body, leaving the witches powerless. Monique denies this saying that Sabine has the faith and will see their power restored. Elijah hands Monique a spell saying that it is similar to the spell Celeste used to body jump. It seems that if Sabine was being honest, her power upon death will flow into the earth and if not, it will arrive at a different destination. Elijah asks Monique to locate Sabine.

Marcel and Rebekah have a meeting with Thierry. Rebekah points out that since Papa Tunde is dead, the remaining three witches they must contend with are Sabine, Genevieve and Bastianna. Marcel reveals that their plans are to kill them all and Rebekah asks him to help. Thierry points out that not many have gone up against those odds and lived to tell about. Marcel points out that he has.

Vincent has apparently spent all night camping at JT’s
scanning his really creepy facial recognition software to try and find Sam –
and he’s eating gummy worms. Is it wrong of me to forgive so much because of
gummy worms? JT has a brief panic at the illegality of it all before it’s
quickly brushed under the rug. Also more repetition of Vincent’s plan to be
human and not use beastliness so he can win Cat back.

Tess and Cat are having coffee – lots and lots of talk
about men follow because Tess cannot possibly talk about anything else. Really,
that sums up the entire conversation. Cat goes home to Gabe for a whole lot of
recapping about Sam, his actions, their relationship issues with an addition
that Gabe is semi-scrabbling to find legal grounds to arrest Sam on (Sam must
be a person Cat has decided it’s immoral to kill – she can be quite random in deciding
that).

Back to JT and Vincent on the street where the software
saw Sam and JT convinces Vincent to use his beasty tracking powers. The legal
issues may rise up because Vincent finds Sam – and puts him in the underground
cage whereupon Sam (after his obligatory “they will pay for my son” reference
since revenge is his motivation for making random beasties) taunts them for
having no legal basis for holding him before lots more taunting about his
beatiness. It gets a beasty response just as Cat and Gabe arrive

Of course they’re quite judgy about Vincent using his
beasty abilities that they’ve been happy to use as a resource constantly for 2
seasons – but that was when Cat said so! They consider it a mess because they
don’t have a legal case against Sam – except Gabe was just discussing said
case. And they were trying to find Sam as well – they’re not even trying to
make sense or be consistent any more.

Sam gives them another good reason why they should have been hunting him – he has
his beast candidate chained and prepared already. Gabe claims he’s bluffing,
Vincent’s lie detector beast senses say no – which Gabe and Cat ignore because
we’re pretending Beast powers are useless and shameful now for REASONS. Gabe
decides to let Sam go because it’s all Vincent’s fault…

It’s Vincent’s fault you’re letting him go? You wouldn’t
even have him without Vincent?

So Sam returns to the victim he has chained up, Xavier is
transforming into a beast and it seems the serum has also been changed to make
him obedient (or “agreeable” as he puts it).

Vincent returns to his boat to find Gabe there saying how
beastly he is and how he will never control it – he knows because he was an uncontrollable
beast. Which is ridiculous because Gabe was precisely that – an uncontrollable
beast, an early model, unlike Vincent.

So Vincent goes to JT to angst about how he can’t change and has to stay away
from Cat – but now JT advises him to “be himself” both Beast and human. Between
all this endless angst and pointlessness there is a gem of advice – start being
who you want to be not who you think Cat wants you to be.

Ok this review is delayed while I get some damn booze,
because there’s no way I’m enduring this while sober, damn it.

Ok, glass full, bottle poised, let’s tackle this.

In Washington a faceless, really really creepy creature
kills a girl with a knife – the standard lead in supernatural murder.

Dean gets one of the girl’s photos showing the faceless
man and considers it a case – though he and Sam are still having lots and lots
of tension which is getting old. They go to the scene and do their standard
impersonating the FBI to interview the mother of the dead girl – and she already
knows some things about the supernatural. Yes, the Ghostfacers have already
asked her questions

Time for that bottle, methinks.

Dean is almost as unthrilled as I am and tries to
threaten Harry and Ed into leaving. Please don’t threaten them, just get to the
murdering (there are only 2 of them at least). Alas there is no murdering and
the annoying pair don’t go away, but this booze is probably not strong enough.

Doing some research the brothers find that Ed and Harry
think the monster is a Thinman, a creature that lurks in the background of
someone’s lives before it kills them. And it looks like they’re right but Dean
is unwilling to give them the credit. He stubbornly keeps looking at ghosts.

Alas we have to go back to the Ghostfacers and their
attempts at comic relief and someone refill my glass or kill them horribly.
Either will do. Double points for both. In between ongoing “humour” about Harry
facebook stalking his ex and him creepily sniffing the dead girl’s clothes, Ed
at least has the good sense to want to turn tail and run – yes, run Ed! Spare
me the desperate desire to murder you!

Back to the Winchesters and more research that basically
points to the Thinman – except all the other mysterious deaths are clearly fake
(or, rather, the Thinman photos were). Only the most recent death is authentic.
There’s also the question of how a photo on the dead girl’s phone got on the internet
in the first place. Especially since the photo was sent 2 hours after the girl
died.

And the Thinman claims his next victim – the owner of a
diner. Which means police and Winchesters go down – and the Ghostfacers are
already there. And, alas, they’re allowed to talk rather than being brutally
stabbed until they stop making noises. They all see the extremely creepy CCTV
footage of the death though

In their van, Harry is eager to go exploring the woods at
night to try and find the murderous monster (c’mon, killing him now is a
Darwinian service to the species, damn it!) while Ed is growing increasingly nervous.

Back to the Winchesters and shock that the video of the
man’s death has already gone online which, round about way, leads to childhood
reminiscenses of dressing up as super heroes. Reminiscing and angst interrupted
by Ed showing up, alone, to pass the case to the Winchesters and make a
confession. The Thinman is fake. Harry was going to leave the Ghostfacers with
his girlfriend who declared the whole thing ridiculous – so Ed faked the Thinman
to give Harry a reason to keep going; and leave his girlfriend. Sam takes the
chance to make a big thing about how Secrets Ruin Relationships (oh you’re
subtle, real subtle there Sam).

Of course, Harry is out there with some kind of killer
which is not advisable so they have to run to the rescue. In the trees, Harry
is ambushed by the Thinman who slashes him – but seems to be considerably less
adept than he was in the past. Harry manages to run, though he’s injured. The
gang finds him and gives him some quick first aid – and some revelations

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

When Zoe Norris took a job editing a travel guide for the coterie, a world that she had no idea even existed opened up to her. During editing the travel guide to New York City, Zoe learned that she is a city tallker, an actually a member of the coterie herself. Now that she has been tasked to write a travel guide to New Orleans - the most coterie friendly city in the world, things should be easier because at least now she has some idea of the hidden world. As with everything in Zoe's life, despite her best intentions, things get complicated quickly and she finds herself searching for an antidote to stall the zombie bite of her boyfriend Arthur and fighting off a dark zoetist who has discovered the true power of the citytalkers.One of the most irritating things about The Shambling Guide to New York was the fact that Lafferty constantly pulled the reader away from the plot to give information on the travel guide Zoe was putting together. I am happy to report that while we did have occasional asides including passages from the New Orleans guide, they seemed far more related to the story, even if they didn't help at all to really move the plot along. I still could have done without them altogether but assume that Lafferty continues to include them to remind the reader that while Zoe is on a really wild adventure, she is still in the process of putting together a book. I am still however certain that as a device, the travel book is a distraction and a hindrance over all. The Ghost Train to New Orleans is 352 pages long and it felt like it went on forever. Part of the problem is that the focus of the story itself was really rather weak. Zoe didn't reall have a direction, she just moved from one disaster to another. At times, I felt my eyes wandering off the page and it became a struggle to read. The jokes that Lafferty included fell short for the most part, thus not adding any really distraction from the meandering plot.I really did appreciate how strongly Lafferty evoked New Orleans in her writing. We got a sense of its wonderful culture through the discussion of things like the cemeteries, jazz and of course the food. I liked that when Lafferty invoked Voodoo (something that normally in this genre is a hot mess) it didn't suddenly become reductive or symbolic of Black people's woo per say. We got the sense that Voodoo is strong and is to be respected along with all other belief systems. I must say that it surprise me.

Still in the past, Sally watches herself, tell Danny that she lost her engagement ring down the sink. Sally screams at her past self to defend herself because Danny is going to kill her. Sally hops into her old body and tells Danny that she is leaving him and that she doesn't have to listen to him ever again. Danny grabs her but Sally knocks him unconscious and then makes her way outside. Sally is now at the hospital - the same hospital that Aidan and Josh work at with Bridget. When Bridget starts questioning Sally's actions, it dawns on Sally that what she did will seriously mess with the timeline and so she begs Bridget to leave with her. Bridget tells Sally to sit and Nora approaches and asks to see Sally's wrist. When Sally comments on how good Nora looks with bangs, Nora questions if Sally hit her head when she hurt her wrist. Nora promises to send someone over with a wrist brace and leaves. Sally says that she just wants to leave, when Aidan walks over asking to look at her arm.

Aidan takes Sally to an exam room and declares that she is going to be fine. Sally giggles as Aidan puts a brace on her arm and instructs her not to lift anything heavy. Aidan leaves and Bridget enters the room.

Back at the house, it's now six months later and Bridget questions why Sally bought out Danny if she has no intention of doing anything with the house. Sally says that she just wants to keep the original charm of the place and that it is going to appeal to some specific renters. Sally assures Bridget that she has a plan but Bridget wonders if she is just stalling. Bridget brings up the break up with Danny and Sally assures her that this has nothing to do with Danny. Sally questions why Bridget is pushing her to move on, and Bridget reveals that she is dating Danny. When Sally says that it is a bad idea because Danny is abusive, Bridget reminds Sally that she is the one who kneed Danny in the balls and punched him in the face. Sally is adamant that this is not what happened and that Danny was going to kill her. Bridget tells Sally that she is making it difficult for them to be friends.

Sally sits on a part bench and watches Aidan and Josh hang out. When Josh leaves, Aidan is joined by Rebekah. Sally pauses and the scene flashes to Aidan calling for a clean up crew after killing Rebekah.

Aidan is at a bar with Rebekah and there is some heavy flirting going on. Rebekah says that she is a nice girl with a bright future. Sally interrupts them and thanks Aidan for never calling her back and giving her raging genital warts before leaving. Aidan turns to Rebekah and says that Sally is lying, but Rebekah grabs her things and leaves. Aidan is stunned and heads outside to find Sally waiting for him. Sally asks for a chance to explain and she says that she is from the future so he starts to walk away. Sally calls out that she came to stop him from killing Rebekah and that he was staring at her carotid artery. Sally tells Aidan she knows how hard he has worked to stay on bagged blood and that Rebekah was way too much temptation. Aidan thinks that Sally is working for Bishop and Sally denies working for anyone. Sally starts mentioning names like Henry, Surine, Celine and Issac and adds that they lived together for years in the future. Sally tells Aidan that Bishop is going to get his claws into him soon and that he is starting to slip.

Aidan and Josh are at the house and Sally is sitting on the counter top. Aidan asks about the rent and she says eight hundred and steps back. Josh and Aidan step aside and Josh suggests that Sally must be mentally ill but says that they need to rent this place; Aidan agrees and Josh gets excited. Sally interrupts to inform them that she will be living with them and walks away. Josh starts to panic and Aidan tells him that they don't have to hide from Sally because she is just like them. Sally explains that she in tethered to her body and has all of the knowledge of what happened to them in the future.

Opening scene brings us an extremely over crowded
homeless shelter that only has a limited number of “pods” (beds) (it also
provides “food” in the form of “supplement pills”). A young woman is sexually harassed
by a man but, surprise surprise, a good Samaritan steps in to get him away from
her. Seeing her upset he also tells her of another shelter that may have free
beds and he offers to go with her. Abbey and Glenn set off and Glenn is in a
wheelchair and he talks about doing what he has to to get well when she looks
at some marks on his neck. As they travel, Glenn accidentally cuts her with his
ring. She gets woozy – and he gets up from his chair and puts her unconscious
body in it and from there into a van.

At the police station, Maldonado, John and Rudy have to
answer questions from a panel who apparently review the androids every year.
They have no problem with the MXs but they have lots of questions about Dorian –
which they also ask Dorian. Of course, when it ends John comments on how long
it took, quite possibly to make Dorian nervous because he’s cruel like that
way. And continues to torment an obviously nervous Dorian in the car before reassuring
Dorian that it was all ok. I do like their mutual snark.

They arrive at the crime scene – Abbey’s body dumped near
the Wall. They find straw on her body and she’s been sewn up. John recognises
this from a 10 year old murder case when a serial killer stuffed his victims
with straw; John’s dad was the investigating officer.

At the police station John tries to access his dead dad’s
files but they’re locked down since, before he died, he was being investigated
for stealing and selling seized robot parts. Naughty man. Maldonado steps in
and reviews everything John just told us, adding in that it’s a copy cat and
Valerie throwing in her 2 cents that the killer is probably mentally ill.

John and Dorian go to see Costas, the original serial
killer and we learn that everyone is genetically scanned as a child and can be
put on a “red list” for “psychotic tendencies”. Did I mention that I think this
is a dystopian setting? He’s locked up for life but he’s a model prisoner –
because in prison they put him on medication.

They speak to Costas who maintains his innocence – before he was on medication
he used to have blackouts so he doesn’t remember the crimes; and is sure that
he didn’t do them. Apparently John’s dad, Edward, actually believed in his innocence
and that he was framed; though there’s no log of him visiting (but one of the
people who did visit John recognises as his dad’s alias). But Costas claims
Edward was tracking down crooked cops and was worried about trusting anyone –
right before he died. Coasts didn’t tell anyone because who would listen to a
paranoid schizophrenic?

More proof that Costas is innocent – Valerie has examined
the stitching on the old cases and the new and it’s identical. Not similar,
identical which suggests extended contact with Costas or, as Valeries says,
Costas actually is innocent. John doesn’t reveal what he learned because of
that whole “my dad didn’t know who to trust” thing. Dorian isn’t entirely on
board the whole playing quiet because of 10 year old mistrust but decides to
focus on going through Edward’s case – but John wants to go through them alone.

That leaves Dorian to examine the body with Rudy –
seriously, is he a technician, a pathologist or what? Because this police
department seems to have millions of dollars for replaceable androids whenever
John has a snit, but can only afford one crime tech? Anyway, more angst about
the review and Rudy’s ridiculously annoying babble. The end result of which is
him advising Dorian to act more like an MX.

John checks his dad’s notes, repeating a whole lot we
already know and his dad has circled pictures of the victims’ feet. Of course
he hasn’t explained it – what you expect notes to actually be informative? Pffft,
everyone knows notes have to be cryptic! It’s a rule! Anyway, Rudy has found
something – or not found something anyway. There is nothing under the bodies’
fingernails. Not one tiny atomic particle of dirt – and these victims were
homeless people. Rudy’s theory is the body isn’t the victim, she’s a cloned
replica of the victim (despite the fact that 3 weeks is too short to create a
clone).

Because leaps of logic are par the course on detective
programs. Looking at the feet they find the woman is flatfooted. Apparently
bioprinters (which seem to be kind of like replicators in star trek but much
slower) create organic stuff from ground up –but the older models will make the
bottom of whatever you’re making flat as it conforms to the surface that it’s
on top of: hence flat feet. Creating a replica means the person is listed as
dead rather than missing so everyone stops looking (apparently Drones look for
missing people as standard). Which suggests the victims are alive.

Wouldn’t that make the bottom of the foot less “flat
footed” and more “completely flat and eerily smooth?” Nah give it a pass
because that’s actually a pretty nifty idea for the show

Cut to the latest kidnap victim being copied by the
printer.

They explain this to the team with the addition that the
old bioprinters were just bad at organs so had to be stuffed and everything has
to be repeated because the show writers think their audience are complete fools
with the intelligence of a concussed yak. John adds his father’s suspicions
about crooked cops.

We grimly open in 1943, with 2 joking American soldiers
carrying a number of dead Japanese people out of a truck when, among the
bodies, the bandage-wrapped nogitsune appears – it attacks, completely unaffected
by gunfire and kills them both.

In the present day it’s Saturday, Mr. Yakimura is at the
school – and Evil!Stiles appears. He’s looking for Mrs. Yakimura’s knives (her
tails) since the last tail Mrs. Yakimura has left will be the most powerful. He
then magically chokes Mr. Yakimura with a fly

Believe me, it’s way way way more menacing than it sounds.

Scott and Kira are looking for Stiles, Malia having brought
them a sword and a photograph they found with the body in the wall. The
photo is from 1943 and shows a woman who looks like Kira who Kira takes to be
her grandmother. Kira gets a text apparently from her father and they both run
to the school. They arrive to find him choking on the floor helped by Kira’s
mother who takes the bottle Kira gives her (magic mushrooms apparently) to save
him.

Mrs. Yakimura, Noshiko has been keeping her last Kaiken
near her – and Kira finally insists that her mother talk to them. They show her
the photo and she says it isn’t Kira’s grandmother – it’s Noshiko. Which would
make her 90 – but that’s nothing because she’s actually around 900. (Oil of
olay has nothing on this woman). Kira’s a little stunned but it’s ok, her dad’s
only 43 (did I mention how much I love Mr. Yakimura?) The sword is broken –
when it was used against a nogitsune in 1943 and, yes, this all happened in the
Oak Creek Internment camp that Mr. Yakimura told Allison and Isaac didn’t
exist. Why? Because Allison’s an Argent and her family have “a history of
violence” Which is putting it mildly. After the war this camp was covered up
and Mr. Yakimura has been obsessed about finding the truth. Noshiko adds a
cryptic “the nogitsune came from me”. She thinks this is obvious, I think that
anyone who engages in exposition on this show simply has to be cryptic, it’s a
law.

Flashback to the Oak Creek internment camp where the
prisoners are trying to get by smuggling some extra supplies when they’re
almost caught: but one of the soldiers, Corpopral Rhys orders the others not to
search, pretending (beyond naively) that it’s not a prison. His “kindness”
seems to have got through to Noshiko who then has a love affair with the man;
but he warns her that she’s stealing far too many supplies and will draw
attention to her.

But when pneumonia hits the camp, they discover a massive
shortfall in the medicine – not due to
Noshiko, but because the doctor, with some soldiers, was selling the
medicine on the black market. The inmates discuss a formal complaint but don’t
believe anyone will listen to them

They protest and mass around the doctor’s car (apparently
Noshiko has never seen anger like it – after 900 years? I doubt it very much),
refusing to let him leave; the crowd is furious especially a man who saw his
son die, but he lowers his Molotov cocktail at Rhys’s look. Until one of the
doctor’s fellow schemers gets out the car and brandishes a gun to drive people
back – and hits an old woman (who has always advocated calm). The old woman’s
eyes glow gold – she was a bitten werewolf, with the usual problems of controlling
her emotions. Enraged she grabs the Molotov cocktail and throws it – at Rhys.

The soldiers open fire on the crowd and also hit Noshiko;
nearly killing her despite her super kitsune healing. And Rhys died in
horrendous agony from his burns – because the doctor had sold the morphine,
they had no pain killers.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Phoenix is an Aegis agent with something to prove – the daughter
of hero, she’s only a quarter vampire,
unlike her half-vampire, dhampire colleagues – and constantly questioned
whether she’s good enough. When the opportunity arises for her to enter the
Fringe on a dangerous mission to help identify a vampire assassin – an assassin
on a mission to kill the Enclave’s mayor and destabilise the human government –
she welcomes the chance to prove herself

But her eagerness also means she exceeds the mission
brief and stays longer than she should have – and in doing so learns more about
the assassin. Deeply conflict Drakon, only recently a vampire, he’s well aware
of the injustices that pervade human society. The longer she spends with him,
the more she sees the darkness in the city she protects but, equally, the less
Drakon is driven by his need for revenge. As they become closer, both of them
have a radical shift in their priorities – but the plots of their superiors are
hardly reliant on them alone

How did humans even survive this war against the
vampires? Future humanity seems to have one battle strategy – throw attractive
women at the enemy with the warning that they may have to use their bodies to
win! Do they even have guns? I can picture their regiments now – the 1st
Regiment, Bunnie’s Burlesque, 2nd Regiment, Davina’s Dominatrices…
Hold your ground ladies, don’t fight until you see the hardness of their cocks!
On my maaaaark…. OPEN HUMP!

Y’know I could handle enemies meeting in battle and
coincidentally falling in love – but it’s the regularity with which the
generals send out their soldiers with the refrain “don’t be afraid to use your
vaginas, ladies!”

When they say “make love not war” I don’t think this is
what they meant.

So we have Phoenix who is sent to the fringes of the city
to try and find a gang boss in the underworld in the hopes of finding vampire
spies supporting a vampire assassin. She is expected to use all of her sexual
wiles (in fact, there’s no other wiles or skills mentioned so it’s less “last
resort” and more “only resort”) and of course she meets with Drakon, the
assassin and lots of attraction follows.

And from the first meeting there’s lots of lust and
endless attraction and what she thinks will be an unpleasant duty instead turns
into something totally hot she totally wants within seconds of meeting him and
after about a week, (probably less) both of them are quite willing to betray
their people, their species and their personal agendas that cut to the bone
with angst 5 seconds ago because they love each other so much.

Much the same as the last book and the book before that.

What’s frustrating is, like those previous 2 books, there’s
something there. There’s this excellent post-apocalyptic world with 2 societies
constantly on the edge of war. The vampires and the humans are struggling to
maintain the peace even as factions in their society are pushing for another
conflict. Just as the last book looked at Erebus and the world the vampires had
built, this book focuses more on the human Enclave.

Elena and Clay are cleaning up the blood from Antonio's death. Elena says that she doesn't know if she can handle anymore funerals and Clay assures her that nothing is going to happen until Nick gets back and Jeremy gets better. Elena says that she feels like they failed Antonio and Clay agrees, before leaving her to finish scrubbing. Elena heads to see Jeremy, who is still in bed. Jeremy's wound is healing normally but he has a terrible fever, causing him to surmise that there must be some sort of poison in his bloodstream. Elena asks about finding an antidote and Jeremy tells her that they have to figure out what toxin was used on the knife. Elena rushes to see Clay to say that she is going to go after the mutts and Clay asks for more time to see if he can get it out of Cain. Elena tells Clay that he has to move fast and they both head down to the cage to find Cain in full wolf form. This causes Elena to decide that she is going to follow through and find the mutts. Clay tries to stop her but she is insistent. Elena says that there was a woman with the mutts and her plan is to find her. Elena promises to call at the first sign of the mutts.

Nick is at the bar and Amanda tells him that everyone has been sent home. Jorge enters and the two men embrace. Nick tells Jorge that Antonio is dead.

Clay has gotten his torture tools together and he tells Cain he knows that his plan is to stay a wolf, so he cannot be questioned. Clay sticks a piece of metal through the bars and injects Cain with something, causing him to collapse.

Back in Toronto, Sylvie and Philip are still working on the video for the advertisement. Sylvie questions what Nate was up to when he shot the original video. Off to the side, she finds that Nick filmed someone changing their clothes. Philip says that he has to talk to Nate about this for fear that this will become the story and not the vodka. Sylvie tells Philip that they make a good team and Philip is quick to clarify and say that they did. Sylvie tells Philip to think about why he called her when he knows so many people who could have done this. Sylvie asks why Philip put himself in this situation and Philip replies that he was hoping they would be mature. Sylvie asks where Elena is and Philip looks down and so Sylvie leaves. Am I the only one bored with these segues? Can we just put Philip in the plotbox already? We don't need to see him every week.

Elena pulls up to Cain's read truck but when she tries the door she finds it locked. Elena wraps her jacket around her arm, breaks the window and enters the truck. Elena searches through the glove department and finds a card with the number 138 it on it as well as a tampon and lipstick. Elena says that she has not really been thinking about that. Philip brings up that Elena and Logan run together at Cherry beach but

At the bar, Nick tells Jorge about the mutt uprising and Jorge says that he wants to talk to Jeremy. Nick reminds Jorge that that he is not inner circle and that Jeremy only asked him to talk to Jorge. Nick says that they are still the pack and they plan to teach the mutts a lesson. Jorge asks what Nick needs for him and Nick explains that they need to erase Antonio's presence in the human world, while allowing the other werewolves to believe that Jeremy allowed Antonio to retire. Nick tells Jorge again that everything is under control.

Philip is moping and looking at pictures of Elena on the computer and pauses when he notices a necklace she is wearing. Philip flips back to the wolf footage and notices the exact same necklace.

Cain awakes to find himself back in human form and in tight restraints. Clay tells Cain that he just wants to talk and that if he moves, his arms will rip out of their sockets.

Elena arrives at an RV camp. When she puts her hand on the door of an RV, her phone goes off and it's Philip. Elena tells Philip that everything is fine and so he asks if she has been running because her running gear is in Toronto. What the hell do you need to run but loose clothing and a pair of shoes? Since when does it take gear? Elena says that she is not really thinking about that right now. Philip then brings up the fact that she and Logan like to run at Cherry beach and Elena cuts him off saying that things will be back to normal soon. Philip then asks if she still has the necklace he gave her, so Elena asks what is going on. Philip simply says that he wants things to be normal. Elena goes back to the RV and breaks the lock on the door.

Back at Stonehaven, Clay asks Cain what was used to poison the blade. Cain says that he doesn't know what Clay is talking about, then admits that Santos could have poisoned the blade. Clay asks where Santos is so that he can find out what was used. Cain tells Clay to shove it up his ass. Clay points out that it's in Cain's best interest to talk. Cain starts talking about his role in Pete's death and adds that Pete begged not to be hurt. Cain tells Clay that he is not afraid of him and tells him to bring it. Cain taunts Clay but Clay syas that Cain is not going to get off that easy.

What’s to dislike about this cover, especially since it has David Giuntoli's beautiful beautiful face on it? Nothing - except for the whole problem with the book itself being more slightly off and not perfectly executed fandom of the main show, rather than a book in its own right. Even the way the title is written - we have that huge gleaming GRIMM with all the serifs and extra spiky bits with the rest of the title and author very much footnotes.

Of course, it’s what you expect of a book of the series… but it kind of emphasises what the book didn’t quite achieve for me.

The cover of this book is the least offensive thing about it. The mic stand and then the halo symbolises a now human Christian God as a comedian. The cover actually portray very well the setting of the story and the only real problem I see that it didn’t have a massive best by publication date along with an apology for the books that died for this to be produced. If anything, the cover of Last God Standing is the perfect example of how an interesting cover can mask horrible drek.

I actually find this cover interesting but wonder why it is that Irene the protagonist is facing away from the reader. I get the idea that she is a ghost who does not belong to the human world anymore makes sense. Normally, I would have something to say about those shoes but given the fact that Irene spends quite a bit of time in the novel actually complaining about how uncomfortable the shoes are and how inappropriate they are for the afterlife they belong on the cover. I do however think it’s interesting that the woman on the cover does not look a day over 20 and Irene is 35. Is this supposed to explain her childlike behaviour throughout the novel? Much like the book itself, the cover of Hereafter is just meh.